Improvement in trace-carriers



,Mhwsses W E. DIPPERT Trace-Carrier.

No. 197,724. Pate nted Dec. 4, 1 77.

N. PETERS. FNOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHNGTON UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM E. DIPPERT, OFDES MOINES, IOWA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF HIS RIGHT TO THOMAS G. ORWIG, OF SAME PLACE.

Q IMPROVEMENT IN TRACE-CARRIERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 197.724, dated December 4, 1877; application filed June 4, 1877.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM E. DIPPERT, of Des Moines, in the county of Polk and State of Iowa, have invented an Improved Trace-Carrier, of which the following is a specification:

The object of my invention is to furnish a trace-carrier complete in one piece, that will readily admit the cockeyes of harness-traces, to allow the free ends of the traces to be hooked up and securely retained while the harness remains on the horse, whether running or at rest, and also while the harness is being stripped off and hung up.

It consists in forming, arranging, and combining two elbow-formed and wing-shaped keepers, a beak-formed keeper, and an ele-. vated guard with a base-ring, in such man-- nor that there will be curved throats and'eccentric cavities, and five distinct obstructions,

to prevent each eockeye-from escaping, all as hereinafter fully set forth.

My drawing is a topview of my trace-carrier, and illustrates its construction, form, and operation.

a to represent a base-ring, that has loops at its sides and ends, to which straps are attached. in a common way. It may vary in size and shape, as desired. b b are elbowformed and wing-shaped keepers formed integral with the base-ring. They rise from the inside top edges of the sides of the basering, and then bend and taper backward to terminate in knobs c c of conoidal form. at is a beak-formed keeper rising from the base a in front of the keepers b, to span acrossth'e base in an elevated position. It is curved to produce a beak orpoint, 9, in a central position relative to the elbows of the keepers b, and two eccentric cavities, h, into which the cockeyes can be readily introduced. m is a guard rising from the rear end of the basering a to the same elevation occupied by the knobs c c, and in such a position relative to those knobs that the cockeyes can pass vertically in and out of the trace-carrier between the guard and the knobs. It prevents the lines from catching in the trace-carrier, and aids in retaining the cockeyes in the carrier.

In the practical operation of my invention, a trace is doubled upward, and the eockeye on its end inverted and passed into the tracecarrier, between the guard m and one of the knobs c, to allow'it to pass forward over the elbow b, and then downward through a curved throat into an eccentric cavity, h, as indicated There are five points of obstruction that will aid in retaining the eockeye in the car rier. N o. l obstruction is the swell on the front and top portion of each elbow b. No. 2 is a swell and obstruction on the under side of each elbow b. No. 3 is the point of the beak-formed keeper d. No. 4 is the knob or head on the end of each elbow-formed keeper b. No. 5 is the guard m.

In order to get a eockeye out of the carrier it must be turned and twisted repeatedly in various directions but it can be readily accomplished by the operator in one motion,

while the intermittent motion occasioned by the running of the horse or the stripping OE and handling of the harness will never cause the eockeye to pass all of the obstructions, and the trace to fall and strike the horse or the person handling the harness, as frequently occurs in the use of imperfect and defective trace-carriers.

I.claim as my invention 1 1. In a trace-carrier, the elbow-formed and wing-shaped keepers b, having 'heads or knobs c on their ends, and standing out from the base a parallel to each other, so as to form the eccentric cavities h, substantially as and for the purposes shown and described.

2. The base-ring c, the elbow-formed keepers b, and the beak-formed keeper d, arranged and combined to operate substantially as set forth.

3. Asan improved article of manufacture, a trace-carrier composed of the base a a, the elbow-formed keepers b b, the beak-formed keeper d, and the guard m, substantially as and for the purposes shown and described.

WILLIAM DIPPERT.

WVitnesses ARTHUR STIMSON, Gno. P. RUssELL. 

